Steam Turbine and Power Plants

Steam turbine

A steam turbine is a device that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work on a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Parsons in 1884.

Because the turbine generates rotary motion, it is particularly suited to be used to drive an electrical generator – about 90% of all electricity generation in the United States (1996) is by use of steam turbines. The steam turbine is a form of heat engine that derives much of its improvement in thermodynamic efficiency through the use of multiple stages in the expansion of the steam, which results in a closer approach to the ideal reversible process.

Back Pressure Steam Turbine

Steam turbines are the prime movers in generating electricity. Back pressure steam turbines are a type of steam turbine that is used in connection with industrial processes where there is a need for low or medium pressure steam.

The high pressure steam enters the back pressure steam turbine and while the steam expands – part of its thermal energy is converted into mechanical energy. The mechanical energy is used to run an electric generator or mechanical equipment, such as pumps, fans, compressors etc.

The outlet steam leaves the back pressure steam turbine at “overpressure” and then the steam returns to the plant for process steam application such as heating or drying purposes.

Steam Turbine Power Plants:

Steam turbine power plants operate on a Rankine cycle. The steam is created by a boiler, where pure water passes through a series of tubes to capture heat from the firebox and then boils under high pressure to become superheated steam. The heat in the firebox is normally provided by burning fossil fuel (e.g. coal, fuel oil or natural gas). However, the heat can also be provided by biomass, solar energy or nuclear fuel. The superheated steam leaving the boiler then enters the steam turbine throttle, where it powers the turbine and connected generator to make electricity. After the steam expands through the turbine, it exits the back end of the turbine, where it is cooled and condensed back to water in the surface condenser. This condensate is then returned to the boiler through high-pressure feedpumps for reuse. Heat from the condensing steam is normally rejected from the condenser to a body of water, such as a river or cooling tower.

Steam turbine plants generally have a history of achieving up to 95% availability and can operate for more than a year between shutdowns for maintenance and inspections. Their unplanned or forced outage rates are typically less than 2% or less than one week per year.

Modern large steam turbine plants (over 500 MW) have efficiencies approaching 40-45%. These plants have installed costs between $800 and$2000/kW, depending on environmental permitting requirements.

Combustion (Gas) Turbines:

Combustion turbine plants operate on the Brayton cycle. They use a compressor to compress the inlet air upstream of a combustion chamber. Then the fuel is introduced and ignited to produce a high temperature, high-pressure gas that enters and expands through the turbine section. The turbine section powers both the generator and compressor. Combustion turbines are also able to burn a wide range of liquid and gaseous fuels from crude oil to natural gas.

The combustion turbine’s energy conversion typically ranges between 25% to 35% efficiency as a simple cycle. The simple cycle efficiency can be increased by installing a recuperator or waste heat boiler onto the turbine’s exhaust. A recuperator captures waste heat in the turbine exhaust stream to preheat the compressor discharge air before it enters the combustion chamber. A waste heat boiler generates steam by capturing heat form the turbine exhaust. These boilers are known as heat recovery steam generators (HRSG). They can provide steam for heating or industrial processes, which is called cogeneration. High-pressure steam from these boilers can also generate power with steam turbines, which is called a combined cycle (steam and combustion turbine operation). Recuperators and HRSGs can increase the combustion turbine’s overall energy cycle efficiency up to 80%.



Combustion (natural gas) turbine development increased in the 1930’s as a means of jet aircraft propulsion. In the early 1980’s, the efficiency and reliability of gas turbines had progressed sufficiently to be widely adopted for stationary power applications. Gas turbines range in size from 30 kW (micro-turbines) to 250 MW (industrial frames). Industrial gas turbines have efficiencies approaching 40% and 60% for simple and combined cycles respectively.

The gas turbine share of the world power generation market has climbed from 20 % to 40 % of capacity additions over the past 20 years with this technology seeing increased use for base load power generation. Much of this growth can be accredited to large (>500 MW) combined cycle power plants that exhibit low capital cost (less than $550/kW) and high thermal efficiency.